YouTube Launches Face Blurring Tool to Keep Protesters Anonymous

www.popsci.com...

A "blur all faces" option in YouTube's video enhancement tool lets a user edit their video, creating a new copy with obscured faces. After that, you can preview what the video will look like, then delete the blurless original. (There's still some bugs to be worked out in facial recognition, but the feature goes live today.)

Good going YouTube, standing up for peoples rights in their own way.

That's an extremely good feature for sure.

Hopefully this product feature catches on other places.

That's pretty cool.

No doubt it will be a very welcome addition

I hope the police crack down on em even harder now... Hell with tazers n rubber bullets. Get out the flame thrower and burn em to a crisp...



Vote Dayve for mayor......

I find it extremely suspect that youtube is adding this feature to its site for users to upload controversial videos to their accounts without retaining the ability to undo the feature within videos if ever need be....might be a means of having users feel safe to upload these controversial videos that they might not normally upload and then turn around and provide them to authorities for investigations/arrests.

It's like the police searching for wanted criminals and using the old phone call/direct mail piece "you've won a TV, come to this address to pick it up" only to arrive at the address and be arrested by police.

reply to post by RussianScientists


This is awesome!

As if a company as huge as YouTube is offering this kind of service. I almost feel like it's too good to be true. Maybe, YouTube now sends those videos you decide to blur the faces out of off to some surveillance agency who can un-blur the faces?

Just kidding. But really, where has this technology been for so long?! Obviously we all know it's been around for ages, why has it taken so long to become available to the public?

Interesting indeed...

Does this mean "On the spot expert eyewitnesses" can also have their identity hidden?

reply to post by RussianScientists


Can they apply it to lady gaga videos?

CJ

somehow i feel this feature will (in time) not benefit protesters.

but moreso benefit crooked cops.

we all know youtube, google, facebook etc. only do things that bring them $$$$.

YAY!!!! Now paid actors, Ahem, I mean activists can have their identity hidden for ever!! Wahhhooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is another "Protester/Activist"

I find this worrying.
If people were already blurring out faces before uploading then this may be a way to get unedited footage uploaded. Think about it, you need to upload it before you can edit it, which would mean they would have access to peoples faces.
I think the idea that websites like youtube are on the peoples side is ridiculous.

Does anyone else wonder if it will also be used by those posting videos of themselves doing criminal acts?

A lot of people will be more than happy to be able to blur thier face before posting a video. The happy slapping vids come to mind, bullying vids too, if you could post what you deem to be a funny vid of you bullying someone and get away with it, what a useful tool this would be.

Or am i getting the wrong idea with this?

CX.

Depending on the algorithm used (ie if it's a linear function or close to) you could actually reverse the technique with not too much difficulty.

Honestly, the best way to protect your identity (besides avoiding cameras) is big crazy mad black boxes. You can't reverse engineer an RGB value of 0 0 0.